Sophie: I’ve got the details on the cost of each of these projects. The tram system comes out as the costliest. It would cost over £20 million just to prepare the route and to lay the lines down, including widening the roads. Then there’s the cost of buying the trams themselves and organising the system.
Robert: And what does it all come to?
Sophie: No less than £30 million in the end. At least that’s what they need to try to keep the costs down to.
Robert: £30 million? That does seem a lot. I thought it was closer to £25 million, but clearly it isn’t. And what about the cheapest?
Sophie: Well, it seems that it’d be either the bus and cycle lanes plan or the park and ride scheme.At the moment, it looks like the bus and cycle lanes might be the least expensive overall. The changes wouldn’t be so large. They estimate around £8 million to set up the signs, paint the roads and so on, and at least another £2 million or so to make other changes.
Robert: So you’re saying it’s around £10 million? That seems quite reasonable. What about the park and ride scheme?
Sophie: Well, there are sites which have been identified for development to build the car parks, and as they’re not in the centre, it won't cost too much to buy them, probably around £5 million. Then they'd just need to lay out the car parks and put in bus shelters, which should be around £6 or £7 million and then get the buses. If they rent them, they could keep the costs down to around £3 million.
Robert: So, if I’m right, that comes to around £15 million for the park and ride in total. And then there’s the pedestrian and one-way system. How does that work out?
Sophie: That’s the second highest. We'd have to re-route all the traffic while the works are done, then change the roads along the routes to make it safer for cyclists, which is around £12 million.Then there are the new signs and so on, which comes to about £5 million and also the road painting and maintenance, at around £8 million.
Robert: So that’s around £23 million. We might be able to manage that.
Sophie: Actually, that’s £25 million, Robert.
Robert: So it is! My mistake. Maths was never my strong point! |
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